New Delhi: In a shocking incident, a Samajwadi Party member stunned the Lok Sabha on Wednesday afternoon snatching the copy of the quota in promotion bill from Minister V Narayanasamy and was sought to be thwarted by Congress President Sonia Gandhi. Amid pandemonium, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath announced tabling of the bill in Lok Sabha on Thursday.
The sudden action of member from Nagina Yashveer Singh came when Minister of State for Personnel Narayanasamy was moving the bill for consideration from the second row and Gandhi, who is also the UPA Chairperson, was occupying her usual front seat.
Singh had, meanwhile, passed on the bill to his party colleague Neeraj Shekhar which fell down.
Shocked by Singh's action, which caused commotion in the House, some Congress members led by Gandhi immediately came to the Well to stop Singh, which created a near scuffle like situation. The Congress members included K Bapiraju and Vilas Muttemwar.
This was because the SP members were already in the Well in strength vociferously protesting against taking up the measure.
The situation led to a verbal spat between the Congress and SP members.
Speaker Meira Kumar was so shocked by the incident that she abruptly adjourned the House for the day.
Amid the melee, several Congress members rushed to the Well and surrounded Gandhi in an apparent bid to protect the leader who was being questioned by SP members for thwarting Singh.
Although the Speaker left the House, the commotion persisted.
In order to calm the tempers in the surcharged House, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath walked up to SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav who was surrounded by his party colleagues including Singh.
Congress members also sought to reach out to the BJP in the wake of incident but not to much success.
Samajwadi Party has been isolated on its opposition to the Bill which will ensure quota in promotion in government jobs for SC/ST employees.
BSP supremo Mayawati, an arch detractor of Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh politics, has been seeking to take credit for the passage of the bill in the Rajya Sabha.
Terming the incident as "very deplorable and extremely unfortunate", Kamal Nath later told reporters, "We will urge the Speaker to condemn it and take action against the member."
"The Bill will be taken up on Thursday when the House meets," he said, maintaining that such an act "frustrates parliamentary democracy."
Nath said since Gandhi was closest to the spot where the snatching incident occurred, she asked the member to return the papers he had snatched.
"In democracy, if you are against something, you vote against it. But you can't do this. I condemn it. If they show such an attitude, there is no need for democracy or Parliament or the media," the Minister said.
REPEATED ADJOURNMENTS
Lok Sabha on Wednesday witnessed repeated uproar before the quota in promotion bill was to be taken up for consideration, with the Samajwadi Party members storming the Well in protest against the measure.
The House also saw noisy scenes over demands by women opposition members seeking adequate protection to women in the backdrop of the barbaric incident of rape on a 23-year old girl in Delhi on Sunday.
Members from Shiv Sena and BJP from Maharashtra were also in the Well raising slogans for increasing cotton prices to Rs 6,000 per quintal and other measures to prevent suicides by cotton-growers.
As Lok Sabha reassembled at noon after an adjournment soon after Question Hour began, SP members trooped into the Well raising slogans against the Constitution (117th Amendment) Bill, which provides for quota in promotions for SCs and STs in government jobs.
The Bill, which was passed by Rajya Sabha on Monday, is listed in the Lok Sabha for consideration and passing on Wednesday.
The SP members raised slogans like "promotion mein aarakshan, nahi chalega, nahi chalega (we do not want reservation in promotions)".
They were followed by women MPs belonging to Shiv Sena, Akali Dal, JD(U) and BJP demanding protection for women against growing atrocities.
Shiv Sena and BJP members from Maharashtra, carrying placards and raising slogans, also joined them in the Well.
After ordering laying of the papers, Speaker Meira Kumar said atrocities against women was "a serious issue and I too want a discussion on it" and asked the women members to give a notice so that it can be discussed.
Kumar then adjourned the House till 2 PM as the uproar continued.
Similar scenes were witnessed when the Lok Sabha reassembled with members from Samajwadi Party trooping into the Well.
The SP members remained silent till the time the Speaker made an observation on the gang-rape case and Shinde outlined steps to check repeat of such cases.
As soon as his statement was over, they shouted slogans opposing the bill on reservation in promotion, forcing the Chair to adjourn the House till 3 PM.
No comments:
Post a Comment